To follow it means to go from suffering-averse to cross-centered; from profligate spending to budgeted generosity; from “father knows best” to “mother is here.” It can be done, but it can’t be done painlessly. More than that, it has to be done. As Pope Francis himself summed it up in Rio:

“With these two things you have the action plan: the Beatitudes and Matthew 25. You do not need to read anything else.”

To remind you: The Beatitudes say to be poor, misused and meek, and Matthew 25 says you’ll go to hell if you don’t (and heaven if you do!).

And then, Stacy Trasancos at her blog, answering Katha Pollitt at The Nation:

How do you feel about the Pope saying these issues have been over emphasized?

I understand it as a mother, a mother who was an unmarried pregnant teenager once, a mother who used contraception, a mother who once aborted a child, a mother who put a career before all else, a mother who is a sinner.

My daughter became a pregnant teenager too. By then I thought it was “necessary to talk about these issues all the time” and to warn her because I didn’t want her to make the bad choices I made in my youth. I did not see her as a person in a greater context. By overemphasizing issues, I failed to love my daughter in a personal way.

She ran away from home, and suffered more bad relationships because she was looking for the love she needed.

Seven years later, our relationship is healed and we are close because I learned to “come into contact in a personal way with the person I have before me.” She learned she could trust me. I think Pope Francis is telling us to remember to love people and not just focus on issues,”We must always consider the person.”

The Church is a mother.

On Friday, Andrew Sullivan noted that the theocon denial over the import of Francis’ comments was dissipating in some quarters. He highlighted George Neumayr’s argument that Francis needs to be “corrected”. I think it’s at least as important to point out these excellent, self-searching reactions.